Formation of indium-tin oxide (ITO) films by the dynamic mixing method

Abstract Indium-tin oxide (ITO) films are prepared on silica glass substrates by the dynamic mixing method, that is, indium and tin are simultaneously evaporated on the substrates and the oxygen ions with energies of 10, 2 and 0.6 keV are also simultaneously bombarded normal to the substrate surface. The film thickness is about 500 A and the substrate temperature is lower than 50° C. Films formed with 10 keV ions have a preferred orientation of the [111] axes of In 2 O 3 crystals which are normal to the film surface and the film with the deposition rates O/In = 3.2, and Sn/In = 0.19 has a transmittance of 96% and an electric resistivity of 7 × 10 −3 Ω cm. Films prepared with 0.6 keV ions and O/In = 2.1, Sn/In = 0.2 have a transmittance of 92% and a resistivity of 2.5 × 10 −4 Ω cm. The film has a preferred orientation of the [110] axes which are normal to the film surface. Films produced with 2 keV have no definite preferred orientation and have worse quality than those prepared with 10 and 0.6 keV.